


an invasion of a different kind

by ArcadeGhostAdventurer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Crack, Established Relationship, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Other, Steve's Inherent Belief That NYC Rats Are Capable Of Anything, Tsum Shenanigans, aka. Steve Mistakes Tsums For Rats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22109260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcadeGhostAdventurer/pseuds/ArcadeGhostAdventurer
Summary: Steve is very sure the NYC rats just climbed the entire tower and made home in their Christmas tree. Because that's more plausible than multi-dimensional bean aliens.Or that's what you would think.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 18
Kudos: 72
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2019





	an invasion of a different kind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dodo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dodo/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Dodo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dodo/pseuds/Dodo) in the [stony_stocking_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2019) collection. 



> Rhee: "tsums moving into the x-mas deco, leading stebe to thinking the tower has rats-fluff"
> 
> Yep. What it says on the tin. With tiny bit of art. BC I like drawing chibis and tsums. BC why not. I hope you like this, O Master Of Crack, Ruler Of Funneh Fics. And yea, no one beta-ed this so if there are mistakes, feel free to point them out. 
> 
> Otherwise, pls enjoy and leave a comment BC I eat them and otherwise I will go hungry. Thank you, bye!!

Steve peeked discreetly from the entryway of the communal floor, trying to see where the rustling noise was coming from. Clint, he assumed, trying to get a glimpse of what other people bought for everyone else to get an idea. He was always the last one to buy gifts and Steve had his theories about why. Or maybe, someone was placing gifts in secret at night.

Steve’s midnight snack mission had now turned into a “be unseen but also get a little glimpse of what’s going on” mission. He felt like a kid, giddy, trying to hide behind the wall.

Steve loved Christmas time in the tower. It was cozy and… Well, a lot. But without being in excess somehow. Or maybe it would always feel a lot to Steve, tinged with sadness left from the times when no one had enough to make Christmas look like Christmas and the Rogers family has even less. But it only made him cherish it more. 

And if that festive spirit involved a little sneaking here and there… Well.

The tree was big enough to hide a person behind it. And fake, since Tony didn’t believe in cutting trees and dealing with fallen needles just to have it up for a couple weeks. It looked like it was decorated by a bunch of kids, the garish pink tinsel that went all the way around twinkled under the light of scented candles and fairy lights. 

It shook.

Steve perked up as the tree shook once more, as if someone was fiddling with the branches. They did have incidents with baubles before. One memorable time, Thor had superglued little jelly dicks onto the tree, claiming that his research on human customs yielded the result that phallic forms were used throughout history to represent prosperity. The poor tree still had bald spots left from that day.

Rustling noises came from the tree, no one peaked out behind it. ‘Have I been discovered?’ thought Steve. Wouldn’t be surprising in this tower.

Clank!!

The sparkly A they had plopped on top of the tree as a topper fell to the floor. The top branches rustled once again, to reveal… Some kind of blob, precariously trying to find its footing on the slippery plastic needles.

Now that Steve had seen one, his eyes could pick up another dark blob, scurrying up along the side of the tinsel.

Rats!! Oh no! 

They had been leaving the cookies out with a glass cloche on them. It’s not like you could put cookies in the fridge. But a cloche, glass or not, meant nothing to the NYC rats. Those things chewed holes in walls.

Steve panicked. They never had a pest problem in the tower before. Tony had regular cleaning crews. There were several labs in this very building, they couldn’t afford poor hygiene or contamination. But apparently, all of these meant nothing to the notorious variety of sewer rats that lived in NYC. 

Which somehow made their way all the way up a skyscraper.

Steve didn’t know what to do. Did they even have rat cages? Or rat poison. But then again he’d feel bad killing the rats. Could he just catch them? Did rats carry rabies? Could he get rabies? He looked at the clock blinking on the microwave all the way in the kitchen, barely visible. 3 A.M. Who would even be…

Tony! Tony was at the workshop! He would know what to do. 

Thumping down the stairs, he burst into the workshop.

“Hi, babe-”

“We’re infested!”

Tony pushed his welding goggles on top of his head in confusion, “What?”

“I saw rats on the Christmas tree. One of them already knocked down the topper, I- Uh- Didn’t know what to do,” he looked at Tony’s tired face sheepishly.

JARVIS spoke, “Sirs, if I may-”

“Just a second JARVIS, I know what to do,” Tony looked around the workshop with purpose, “Ah! Here we go,” he picked up a little case.

Steve saw it was a pack of tranquilizer needles.

“These,” Tony waved the pack while looking for the gun itself, “are left from the time Thor tried to adopt the racoon, remember, should be more than enough.” 

“Sure,” Steve fiddled with the hem of his shirt, “can we place them outside?”

“Yes Steve, we can even place a cookie by their side for when they wake up.”

Steve pumped his shoulder. But yeah, he knew Tony would know what to do.

They quietly made it up back up to the shared kitchen, Steve holding the gun, being the one with better aim for things like this. Tony was right behind him, peeking around to see what was going on.

Steve slowly inched around the entryway, tranq gun ready to fire. The tree’s needled rustled, he could still see the one rat bumbling on top of the tree precariously, now if he could only…

“Steve!!” Tony grabbed his arm suddenly, “Oh God, this was supposed to be a surprise! JARVIS, lights.”

Steve lowered the gun, looking at Tony in confusion.

“They are not rats Steve, the Tsums are visiting.” 

“Oh!”

Tsum Tsums. The little aliens that were the likenesses of them, only in small, bread-roll-ish forms. Now that the lights were on, he could see the Iron Man one, the Tony one, was on top of the tree. While his likeness was on the tinsel, trying to make his way up to the top. 

He slumped in relief, “Sorry that I panicked,” he walked up to the tree to scoop up his boyfriend in the Tsum form, “JARVIS didn’t say anything about visitors.” 

“It’s all right, I asked him not to,” Tony came beside him, scooping up the Cap Tsum in his arms, “I knew the little beans were coming, you know, for Christmas. Not that they understand Christmas but still, I thought it would be a nice surprise for you.

“In my defense Sirs, I was about to,” JARVIS sounded amused.

Iron Tsum started rumbling, almost like a purring cat as soon as he settled in Steve’s arms, he smiled down at him, then at Tony sheepishly, “Sorry for interrupting your work too.”

“Meh,” Tony petted Cap Tsum, “I was just tinkering anyway.”

They stood around the tree in comfortable silence for a while. Tony was stroking Cap Tsum’s little round nose. ‘He does that to me too,’ Steve thought.

It was kind of funny to think they had gotten together because of the Tsum Tsums in some degree. They had appeared on an alien mission once and… Just never left. Or couldn’t leave, until Tony had figured out where they came from and how. There were others too. A Hulk one, a Black Widow one… But the Cap and Iron Tsums never left each other's side. In the lab, after the fighting was over, they had huddled together to sleep; stacked on top of each other, watching Tony work... 

Which in turn had brought Tony and Steve together. Tony couldn’t leave their side and Steve just wanted to see them, one more time, a little bit jealous about how free they were with their affection, crawling on top of him and Tony. Their Tsum counterparts were good for each other. It had turned out, so were the human ones.

It was new, still. But Steve could feel that this was it. Tony was the one.

“Why were you awake in the first place,” Tony asked quietly, “nightmare?”

“Nah,” Steve grabbed the little Iron Tsum and placed him on his shoulder, “I woke up hungry and we’re out of milk upstairs in the mini-fridge so-”

Tony laughed, moving into the kitchen, “I could dunk a couple of cookies into milk.”

Steve smiled, coming around Tony to plant a kiss on his brow, “Sure, let’s find out the Iron Tsum’s favorites too.”


End file.
